brewer



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. J. BREWER.

GALVANIG BATTERY.

No. 359,055. P55511555 Mar. 8,.188'7.

N PETERS. Pholo-Lilhogrnphur, Washington, at;

I 2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

H. J. BREWER. GALVANIG BATTERY.

No. 359,055. Patented Mar. 8, 1887.

w mwzokg N. PETERS. Pnqmmhn n mr. Wauhinflon, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORATIO J. BREWER, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

GALVANIC BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,055, dated March 8, 1887.

Application filed May 20, 1885. Serial No. 166,151. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HORATIO J .BREWER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Galvanic Batteries, of which the following is a full, true, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to animprovement in galvanic batteries, and is especially, though not exclusively, applicable to closed batteries, which can be moved from place to place without damage or danger of spilling the liquids contained therein.

The parts new in my invention will be pan ticularly pointed out in the claims hereto annexed.

The battery itself will bereadily understood from the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters refer to similar parts.

Figure 1 is a view, generally in vertical section, of my improved battery. Fig. 2 is a view ofthe stopper, and Fig. 3 is a view of the jar. A represents the battery-jar, made of any suitable material, which preferably is made with vertical corrugations, as will be readily seen from the drawings. The bottom of this jar is by preference elevated in the center, where it has likewise a depression, K, for the reception of the lower end of the zinc. The upper end of the jar has a neck of a suitable size for the reception of the stopper D. The electro-negative element in this battery consists of a sack, preferably made of cloth, containing the electro-negative substancein a pow dered condition or reduced to small lumps. In the form shown a long narrow sack arranged in a spiral form within the jar is employed. The substance to be placed in the bag may be of various kinds; but I preferthe compound heretofore patented to Georges L. Leclanch, though ordinary broken carbon could be employed with less'advantageous results. The connection is made with this electro-negative body by means of a solid piece of carbon adapted to pass upward through the stopper.

In order toinsure certainty of contact with this carbon plug H, I fill my sack as follows: The section of the carbon is generally arrowshaped, the larger part projecting downward and into the upper end of the sack.

The sack itself is provided with an opening large enough for the narrow end of the carbon H to slip through, and the upper end of the sack is then firmly tied by a string, M, or in some other suitable manner, around the neck of the carbon plug H. Of course I do not limit myself to this method of attachment, though it is a convenient one. The sack having been slipped overthe neck of the carbon plug H, the material is filled into it from the other end. By this means the material is firmly compacted between the sack and the carbon, and it thus enables a firm and permanent contact to be maintained between the carbon plug H and the filling N of the sack B. When the sack has been firmly filled, the lower end is closed in some suitable manner, and the upper end can then be attached firmly around the carbon plug H by the string M. The sack should then be coiled in a spiral, as shown in Fig. 1, the layers pressing firmly upon each other, and it should be of such a length as that when the upper coil is forced down, the upper project-ing end of the sack should extend a little above the position it is to occupy when the battery is completed. It will be observed that as this sack has been filled when straight, and is subsequently coiled in the cell, the coiling will reduce the interior capacity of the sack, and thereby still further tend to compact the granulated material contained there in. The neck of the carbon plug H is then to be fitted through the hole F in the rubber cork D, and when this cork is pushed firmly into its ultimate position in the neck itforces down the sack into its ultimate posit-ion, thus still further insuring a firm contact between the carbon and thebroken material in the sack. The battery-jar A having been filled with a suitable exciting-liquid-such as Sal-animoniac-the zinc rod Z is then placed in position by passing it through the opening E of the cork D. The lower end of the zinc rod then rests in the hollow K, while the lower end of the carbon coil is separated from it by the circular elevation around the zinc. The cork' D is likewise provided with an opening, P, which may have an automatic valve at its upper end. This is well made by making an opening extending almost through the rubber cork and leaving a slit in the film at its upper end, as shown at G, Fig. 2. This opening will allow the escape of gases in case any pressure exists in the cell, but will not allow the escape of the liquid. The corrugations R serve the double purpose of permitting a more extended contact of the liquid with the sack, and also of permitting the upward escape of any gases which otherwise might be locked be tween the coils of the sack and the surrounding cell.

The conducting-wires are attached in the usual way for the zinc,- but in connecting with the carbon I prefer the method shown, in which a screw, J, provided with a suitable head has been baked into the upper end of the carbon, and a nut is then screwed down upon this screw, forcing the connecting-wire against the upper end of the carbon. A very sure contact between the wire and the carbon is thus made.

The jar A, preferably made ofglass and provided with the corrugations R, as shown, is slightly elliptical in general section; but this shape is non-essential, and a round corrugated jar could be employed, or even around jar without corrugations, though I find the corrugations very advantageous.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. 'A flexible electro-negative element for a galvanic battery, consisting of a porous sack filled with granulated electronegative material, combined with a carbon plug in electrical connection with one end only of the sack, and serving as a connector for the electro-nega' tive material, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the spirally-coiled sack B, containing eleetro-negative material, with the carbon connector H, projecting through the open mouth of the sack and into the body of the granulated electro-negative material, and the stopper D, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the cell A, provided with corrugations R, and the spirally-coiled sack B, containing the electro-negative material N, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the cell A, provided with an inwardly-projecting bottom containing a central depression, K, elevated above the lower edge of the said cell, a spirally-coiled sack, B, resting on the bottom adjacent to the walls of the cell, and the zinc O, placed therein and resting in the depression K, whereby the zinc and electro-negative element are separated from each other at all points and prevented from moving laterally by the shape of the jar, substantially as described.

5. The rubber stopper D, provided with openings F and E and with the automatic gasvalve G, formed of the upper part of the rubber of the stopper D,snbstantially as described.

6. The combination of the corrugated jar A. the spiral sack B, coiled therein, the zinc O, and the stopper D, provided with openings F and E for the passage of the zinc and carbon connections, substantially as described.

7. The combination of abatteryjar, having a less diameter at its neck than in the body of the jar, with a long sack containing electro-ncgative material inserted through the neck and spirally coiled against the inner surface of the jar, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a long sack containing a powdered or granulated compound of carbon and peroxide of manganese, provided with a carbon-connector pressed against the granulated electro-negative material and forming an electrical connect-ion therewith, and a jar in which the said long sack is spirally coiled, substantially as described.

9. A flexible electro-negative element for batteries, consisting of aflexible porous coiled sack filled with electro-ncgative material,combined with a plug formed of conductive and noncorrosive material and projecting into the mouth of the sack, substantially as described.

10. A flexible electro-negatii e element for batteries,consisting of a porous sack filled with granulated electronegative material, combined with a plug connected to one end only of said sack and formed of conductive and non-corrosive material, and a receptacle provided with a non-conductive and non-corrosive stopper, through and above which the plug extends, substantially as described.

11. As an article of manufacture, a con- 9 nector for the negative element of a battery, the said connector being formed of a short plug of conductive and non-corrosive material carrying at one end means for connecting a wire thereto, substantially as described.

12. As an article of manufacture, a connector for the negative element of a battery, the said connector consisting of a plug of carbon enlarged at one end and carrying a binding-post at the other end, substantially as described.

13. As an article of manufacture, a connector for the negative element of a battery, consisting of a plug of carbon enlarged and pointed at one end and at the other end carrying a binding-post,substantially as described.

14. A negative element for batteries, consisting of a porous sack filled with granulated electro negative material, combined with a connector consisting of a plug of non-corro sive material having one end enlarged and inclosed by one end of said sack, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HORATIO J BREWER.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. H. EVANS, WM. A. POLLOOK. 

